In the Heat of the Night

Rated NR109 minutes1967

Philly cop Sidney Poitier, stranded in racist Mississippi, teams up with redneck sheriff Rod Steiger to solve a murder. A decent piece of do-good cinema (1967), though the Academy Award went not to Poitier for his righteous indignation but to Steiger for his flamboyant cracker routine. Director Norman Jewison stages their confrontations for effectively flashy, immediate effects, though he unnecessarily neglects the action-movie underpinning. The semisequel, They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, was much more satisfying in genre terms. With Lee Grant and Warren Oates.
ByDave Kehr